I had high hopes for Trader Joe’s Cheese Empanadas with Cassava Crust. I’ve had muffins and other things made with cassava flour and there were no weird textural issues at all. But, these did not go well at all for me.
The instructions give you two options — conventional oven or airfryer. I baked mine. And while you do get a little bit of browning, we also had a filling blow out.
I followed package directions and baked them for 20 minutes. They were very lightly browned and crisp enough on the outside, but inside was another story. Internal temperature clocked in at 211F (well over the 165F called for on the box) and still, we ended up with an interior that looked underbaked to me.
I thought, well, maybe it’s the cassava flour. It just produces a different texture, maybe?
But the other one was even worse. I mean, look at the edge! It’s not just underbaked, it squishes! You may get different results with an airfryer, but if you’re using an oven, I’d go the full 25 minutes, and possibly add up to another 5 minutes to the bake time. My bet is the ricotta filling is just too moist for this dough, so there may be no helping it.
Meat-based empanadas can be amazing, and these definitely were not. Though I didn’t eat them, I tasted the cheese filling. Pretty boring if I’m being honest. So nope, I won’t be buying Trader Joe’s Cheese Empanadas again.
Check out some other We Tried’s from Trader Joe’s:
Hold the Dairy Mini Ice Cream Cones (aka Vegan Hold the Cones)
Sparkling Green Tea with Pineapple Juice